"This is how we're ensuring with our 2009 product line we're delivering the latest updates, thus keeping them protected at all times."

Work has also been done to make the software less intrusive to the user, and less of a drain on system resources. Pawar said McAfee has been able to achieve a 13 per cent performance improvement when running a full system scan over its 2008 edition.

A new edition to McAfee's Site Advisor tool is McAfee Secure. Designed to protect customers from identity theft and credit card theft while shopping online, Secure is a trustmark that will appear next to the ratings of sites that have been re-checked daily by McAffee as threat-free.

McAfee offers three levels of consumer products: VirusScan Plus, Internet Security, and Total Protection. All are available now through the McAfee channel.